Icbccss&p500usd Discussion Threads

[briarberry] 25/11/2010 17:34

BEIJING, Nov. 25 (Xinhua) -- China's central bank warned about the risk of credit card related bad debt on Thursday as money owed 180 days past the due date was on the rise in the third quarter.

Credit cards debt 180 days past the due repayment date stood at 7.92 billion yuan (1.19 billion U.S. dollars) by the end of the third quarter, up 8.5 percent from the second quarter, according to a statement released Thursday on the website of the People's Bank of China.

Taking this into account, the central bank warned commercial banks to pay close attention to risks associated with credit card related bad debt.

Money owed 180 days past the due repayment date accounted for 2.1 percent of the total amount of debt by the end of the third quarter, down 0.4 percentage point from the second quarter, according to the statement.

[briarberry] 23/11/2010 11:12

China's biggest banks are close to reaching annual lending quotas and plan to stop expanding their loan books to avoid exceeding the limits, according to four people with knowledge of the matter.

Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd., Bank of China Ltd. and Agricultural Bank of China Ltd. are only extending new loans as existing ones get repaid, the people said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Lenders are also cutting holdings of discounted bills to make room for longer-term debt, they said.

Regulators are monitoring banks' loan balances on a daily basis to ensure the official target of 7.5 trillion yuan ($1.1 trillion) in new lending for 2010 isn't exceeded, the people said. China's government in the past month stepped up a campaign to limit credit expansion after inflation quickened and property prices surged.

[briarberry] 22/11/2010 12:08

HANG SENG PROPERTY INDX (HSP:IND)

down 2.5%

[briarberry] 22/11/2010 02:54

SHANGHAI (Dow Jones)--China will continue to allow more currencies to trade in the domestic interbank foreign-exchange market, following the trading debut of the Russian ruble in China, the China Foreign Exchange Trade System said Monday.

CFETS, the central bank division that oversees the foreign-exchange market, said yuan/ruble trading will help reduce foreign-exchange risks and costs for Russia and China, foster bilateral trade and facilitate the use of the yuan to settle cross-border trade.

[briarberry] 22/11/2010 02:09

Hong Kong Property Sales Slide as Tax Deters Buyers

Financial Secretary John Tsang on Nov. 19 raised stamp duty and increased deposits, the toughest measures yet to rein in home values that soared 50 percent since January 2009.

Weekend sales of used homes fell 83 percent from the previous week, according to data from Centaline Property Agency Ltd. The changes mean homes sold within six months of purchase incur a 15 percent stamp duty, while down payments will rise to 50 percent for properties costing HK$12 million or more, and to 40 percent for those between HK$8 million and HK$12 million.

Hong Kong has jumped onto the bandwagon of Asian central banks and is erecting its own defenses to fend off the flood" of capital from the U.S. easing, she said.

Hong Kong's currency peg to the dollar prevents its de- facto central bank from raising interest rates to deter speculation. South Korea revived a tax on foreigners investing in its bonds last week, while Brazil tripled a tax on purchases of local fixed-income assets by overseas investors.

[bamboo2] 20/11/2010 22:16

November 16 – Bloomberg (Scott Reyburn): "The sale of an 18-century white-jade carving has rounded off a series of auctions of Chinese art in the U.K. that raised a record 105 million pounds ($168 million). The carving of a deer with its young fetched 3.8 million pounds... The price was the second-highest of the series after the 51.6 million pounds for a Qianlong Imperial vase, an auction record for Chinese art, also set at a regional saleroom, Bainbridges in west London. Asian collectors are prepared to pay ever-higher prices for objects associated with Chinese emperors, wherever in the world they are offered, dealers said. 'China has always been the poor relation of Western art,' said London-based dealer Alastair Gibson, a director of Asian Art... 'Now, it's up there with Picasso and Warhol."

[briarberry] 19/11/2010 21:13

The People's Bank of China said the reserve ratio would go up by a further 0.5 percentage points on 29 November.

It is the fifth time this year that the central bank has made such a move, and the second announcement this month.

[briarberry] 16/11/2010 13:56

Stunning Time Lapse Video Of China Completing 15 Story Hotel In 6 Days

The work crew erected the hotel -- a soundproofed, thermal-insulated structure reportedly built to withstand a magnitude 9 earthquake -- with all prefabricated materials.

[briarberry] 16/11/2010 13:02

The Bank of Korea increased interest rates for the second time this year, and dropped a reference to keeping borrowing costs "accommodative," after inflation surged past the central bank's ceiling.

[briarberry] 10/11/2010 16:30

China's central bank raised lenders' reserve requirements as cash from October's larger-than-forecast $27.1 billion trade surplus threatened to add to the risk of asset bubbles and accelerating inflation.

Reserve requirements will increase 0.5 percentage points from Nov. 16, the People's Bank of China said in a statement on its website about eight hours after the trade data. The announcement followed media reports today of increases for selected banks.

Inflows of cash from monetary easing abroad and investors speculating on gains in the yuan threaten to worsen Chinese inflation forecast to have risen to a two-year high in October. The trade imbalance and currency curbs that have pushed China's foreign-exchange reserves to $2.65 trillion will be discussed by Group of 20 leaders meeting in Seoul from tomorrow.

[briarberry] 08/11/2010 13:10

China announces success of Chang'e-2 lunar probe mission

CHINESE Premier Wen Jiabao today unveiled an image of the moon's Sinus Iridum, or Bay of Rainbows, photographed by Chang'e-2, marking the success of China's second lunar probe mission.

"The Chinese people will unswervingly develop technologies for the exploration of deep space and the peaceful use of outer space," said the message.

[briarberry] 08/11/2010 12:58

Drug research and collaborations in China

As one of the first multinational companies to fund pharmaceutical research and development in China, GSK's total R&D investment in China has exceeded RMB1 billion in the past 20 years. Research focus adheres to the disease control priorities set by Chinese government, such as infections, diabetes, oncology and respiratory diseases. Along with economic development and increased health care in China, GSK is planning to develop a more comprehensive and robust R&D strategy to bring China into a key strategic center for GSK global R&D in near future.

[briarberry] 08/11/2010 12:52

China is moving up to the top level in all fields of science and technology...


China Wrests Supercomputer Title From U.S.

A Chinese scientific research center has built the fastest supercomputer ever made, replacing the United States as maker of the swiftest machine, and giving China bragging rights as a technology superpower.

The Chinese system follows that model by linking thousands upon thousands of chips made by the American companies Intel and Nvidia. But the secret sauce behind the system - and the technological achievement - is the interconnect, or networking technology, developed by Chinese researchers that shuttles data back and forth across the smaller computers at breakneck rates, Mr. Dongarra said.

Mr. Dongarra said a long-running Chinese project to build chips to rival those from Intel and others remained under way and looked promising. "It's not quite there yet, but it will be in a year or two," he said.

[briarberry] 01/11/2010 12:14

China's manufacturing sector picked up more speed in October, despite exports remaining subdued, two reports show.

The official purchasing managers' index (PMI) rose to 54.7, from 53.9 in September and 51.7 in August. Readings above 50 indicate expansion.

The result was driven by rising transport and general equipment orders, thanks to strong state-sponsored investment in infrastructure.

[briarberry] 27/10/2010 16:33

Hong Kong luxury home prices have exceeded the previous peak of 1997, fueling speculation the government may introduce further steps to prevent the housing bubble from bursting.

Prices of apartments with an area of at least 100 square meters (1,076 square feet) are 13.8 percent higher than in the third quarter of 1997, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority said in a slide presentation posted on its website yesterday.

Measures introduced by the government this year, including higher mortgage down payments and increased land supply, failed to stem an almost 50 percent surge in home prices since early 2009. The Hang Seng Property Index, which tracks the city's seven biggest developers, climbed 11 percent this year, outpacing a 6 percent gain in the benchmark Hang Seng Index.

[briarberry] 20/10/2010 00:15

Over the past two years, M1 expanded by 56 percent...

In reality, there is rampant inflation in China. It's just showing up in asset prices. The new money that was created entered the economy as loans, mainly to fund investment in fixed assets. When it finally reached consumers, they bought tangibles, like property, instead of spending on consumer goods.
...
Now there are signs that inflation is spilling over into consumer prices. China's CPI has been climbing steadily all year, and Chinese officials are making noises about raising their CPI target to 4 percent or even higher. Food prices gained 7.5 percent in August, from a year earlier. Economists estimate wages are rising about 8 percent.
...
Over the past two years, M1 expanded by 56 percent, M2 by 53 percent. Currently, even with much-touted "cooling measures," both are still growing at an annual rate of about 20 percent.

[briarberry] 19/10/2010 18:02

China has raised interest rates for the first time since 2007, as it tries to rein in inflation and dampen its red-hot real estate market.

The People's Bank of China said it will raise its one-year lending rate to 5.6% from 5.31% and its one-year deposit rate to 2.5% from 2.25%.

This is the first time China has raised the cost of borrowing since onset of the global financial crisis.

[briarberry] 19/10/2010 12:30

China lifts deposit rates by quarter-point: Xinhua

[briarberry] 18/10/2010 17:36

I'm not keen on AIM shares, I'm sure you know the risks

Good Chinese stocks seem overbought, just as overbought as other emerging market stocks, unless you're expecting a stimulus driven meltup ?

[spennysimmo] 15/10/2010 18:22

25% in 5 months.